West Philly Vegetarian Favorites (for $5 or less)

Other GSE student bloggers have talked about food, so I figured I’d go ahead and ward off my tunnel vision on the current semester by joining the party. I’ve had the chance to live in West Philly for 4+ years now, and I could share quite a bit about its offerings – so I’m going to start with the list that’s been perhaps the most important for me:

Top 5 Vegetarian Take-out Meals for $5 or Less:

Wawa’s vegetarian options aren’t that great, and the student café is more likely to stock turkey or beef, so what does that leave for a price-conscious vegetarian looking for portable foodstuffs? Lots. Presented in alphabetical order:

Term II: Complete.

My Term II assignment is complete! Submitted on Friday, and got to take a bit of a breather over the weekend. Not going to lie, it was a pretty big haul, and I'm glad to be through it. But, people have been asking me if it was totally overwhelming, and the answer is no. In fact, over the last few weeks, I've found the time to do some pretty awesome things that have NOTHING whatsoever to do with Term II or with GSE.

That's why the alternative title for this blog entry is:

Can You Still Do Wonderful Things in Philly? Yes, You Can Still Do Wonderful Things in Philly.

To name a few, from the last couple weeks:

Term II, Part II: Science that Smells (Like Sandalwood and Manliness)

I’m continuing to work through my Term II assignment, and having a blast with it, though the sheen will come off once I pick up the laptop and focus more on, you know, writing the darn thing.

This morning, I did the last major piece I needed for my project, a sink and float experiment. A few of the highlights:

1. I told my student yesterday that we could test any objects that he wanted to bring in. I mostly asked so I could gauge his level of interest; would he even remember? He did: he brought a bottle of Axe Body Spray.
2. He was quite surprised by several results, which was probably the outcome I was most hoping for. For example, he expected that a glass bottle would sink (because he’s used to glass sinking in his dish sink), but was surprised when it floated – then decided to test how many pennies he could add to make it sink. He was surprised again when the empty bottle sank, and quickly decided the plastic cap was the reason it had floated initially – only to make it a new cap out of clay (which sank), which shocked him by making it float again.
3. I’m just reviewing my transcript, and am delighted by the number of exclamation points – the student has a voice which is often quite monotone, but he certainly got quite animated while experimenting.
4. I asked if he had ever done an experiment before; “No,” he told me, then corrected himself. One time, he “mixed lemon juice and relish, and milk. It turned orange!” And yes, he told me, it eventually got lumpy too.

Like I said last week, it’s a luxury to be able to spend so much time working one-on-one with a single student, especially in a class as large as ours, and get to really explore their personality and interests. Even if those interests include Anarchy for Him™ Axe Body Spray. Especially so?

Learning from a Child; and some rambling about MATH!

A very quick primer, to help you locate me within the structure of the Elementary Ed program: The full year is divided into several terms. The fall semester consists of Term II and Term III. Right now, I’m approaching the end of Term II, which focuses on learning from an individual child within our placement classrooms. (Term I focused on the school in its neighborhood; the next term, Term III, focuses on working with small groups; in the spring, we focus on whole-class instruction.)

For the end of Term II, we have an “integrated assignment” focused on that child, which pulls components from most of the classes we’re currently taking:

• For our Math Methods class, we observe the child working through a series of problems, and try to interpret and assess their modes of understanding
• For Science, we work with the child to carry out an experiment on sinking and floating 
• For English, we practice assessing literacy while also interviewing the child about their personal relationships to reading and writing
• For Social Studies, we record and “map” the student’s physical use of the classroom space (an assignment that seems tied to this course more for convenience than connection)
• And for our Field Seminar, we tie it all together with a preceding descriptive review and a concluding reflection.